Christmas

Christmas Crafts – Day 7

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Our Christmas tree is decorated in ornaments that were given to me when I was a child, some were made and some were bought. Each year I received at least one ornament, and now as an adult (up for debate most days) I have a tree full of ornaments with special meaning.

I have continued to add to the decorations by making one ornament for each of the kids. This year I made them tiny knit scarves in a ball. I saw them on Pinterest and thought they were cute. My husband is questioning my design savvy after seeing the finished product. They do look slightly nicer in real life, but I am siding with him on this one. But you know what, if my kids look at them in 20 years and say I wonder what mommy was thinking when she made these, that’s good enough for me.

On the seventhth day of Christmas my true love made for me…..

 

Tiny Knit Scarf Ornaments.

 

Christmas Crafts – Day 6

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I was making a craft today when my five year old asked if he could have a clear ornament ball which I was planning on using for my project.

He was very excited, and told me he was going to make the ball into a snowman with eyes, a smile and buttons. And he was going to sign his name. He got out the permanent markers and got to work.

When he was finished I suggested that we fill it with snow which like all the other materials, I had on hand. He was sceptical. I got out a jar of snow and got to work filling it up. He proceeded to show my other son and husband his masterpiece, which prompted the making of a second snowman.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true loves made…..

Spontaneous Snowmen.

Want to make your own snowmen? You will need clear plastic ornament balls, permanent markers, ribbon and powdered snow.

Start by drawing a snowman face on the ornament with permanent markers. Remove the hanger, fill with powdered snow and reconnect the hanger. Tie ribbon to hang.

So easy a five year old could design and execute it on his own.

Christmas Crafts – Day 5

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Every once and a while I get the opportunity to use my crafting skills to help others. Crafting skills don’t really come in handy that often so I tend to jump when I can help someone by making something. I follow a local buy nothing group where members of our community trade goods and services instead of buying things. Wednesday is wishful Wednesday where members post something specific that they are wishing for, and others respond.

Two weeks ago I was reading through the Wednesday wishes and I saw a wish for two hats. The woman wishing is starting chemo in January and she was wanting soft hats to keep her head warm during treatment. I jumped at the chance to make her wish come true.

I contacted her through social media and asked what colours she would like. She had specific colour wishes, she asked for a sapphire blue hat to match her wedding ring, and a soft pink hat to match a baby blanket. I hit the craft shop got the yarn and got to work.

  • On the first day of Christmas my true loves made for me, an Ornament Wreath.
  • On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me, Hot Chocolate Mugs.
  • On the third day of Christmas my true love made for me, Plum Wine.
  • On the fourth day of Christmas my mom made for me, A Nativity Scene.

On the fifth day of Christmas a random stranger made for me… Chemo caps.

The sapphire blue cap was knit with the following pattern by Purl Soho.

The Pink hat I made up as I went along. If you want to make the Cotton Candy Chemo Cap to fit 8 years old and up the instructions are as follows;

Materials

  • approx 80 yds Bulky yarn (I used Loops & Threads Charisma)
  • 9mm (US 13) circular needles and 4 double points

Directions

  1. Cast on 56 stitches onto circular needles
  2. Join for working in the round, place a stitch marker. Be careful not to twist the stitches.
  3. Round 1:*K2P2, repeat to the end of the round
  4. Round 2-6: Repeat Round 1, 6 times
  5. Round 7: K7, P1
  6. Round 8: The following rows the Purl stitch needs to shift by 1 stitch to the left. Round 8 begins P1, *K7, P1, repeat * to end of round
  7. Round 9: begins K1, P1, *K7, P1 repeat *to end of round
  8. Knit until the piece is 6″ from bottom of cuff to working row
  9. Decrease Round 1: following the same pattern knit to the next P1 stitch. Place the marker. *P1, K2TOG, K6 repeat * to end of round ending with a P1 stitch (you may need to shift your marker one stitch)
  10. Decrease Round 2: *K6, P1 repeat * to end of round
  11. Switch to double points
  12. Decrease Round 3: same pattern but P1, K2TOG, K5
  13. Decrease Round 4: *K5, P1 repeat * to end of round
  14. Decrease round 5: same pattern but P1, K2TOG, K4
  15. Decrease round 6: *K4, P1 repeat * to end of round
  16. Decrease round 7: same pattern but P1, K2TOG, K3
  17. Decrease round 8: *K3, P1 repeat to end of round
  18. Decrease round 9: same pattern but P1, K2TOG, K2
  19. Decrease round 10: *K2, P1 repeat to end of round
  20. Decrease round 11: same pattern but P1, K2TGO, K1
  21. Decrease round 12: *K1, P1 repeat to end of round
  22. Decrease round 13: *K2TOG repeat to end of round
  23. Cast off, weave in ends.

 

Christmas Crafts – Day 4

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At this rate I might have to change the title to New Years Crafts. It’s only 8 days to Christmas day and I am on day 4 of Christmas Crafts. We will see how close I can get to 12. If anyone that wants to place a bet please do so in the comments.

On the first day of Christmas my true loves made for me, an Ornament Wreath.

On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me, Hot Chocolate Mugs.

On the third day of Christmas my true love made for me, Plum Wine.

On the fourth day of Christmas my mom made for me….

Nativity_Making A Life

A nativity scene and just in time. My youngest climbed into bed with me one morning two weeks ago and asked “Mommy what’s a Jesus”. What’s a Jesus? Well isn’t that a fun conversation at 7 am.

The nativity scene helped with the conversation. After I did my best to answer the following questions, he has a better understanding of Jesus.

  • Why is the baby in a box of straw?
  • Why didn’t they have the baby in the hospital?
  • Why are the smart guys wearing crowns?
  • What is frankincense and myrrh?
  • What’s an angel?

 

Christmas Crafts – Day 3

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On the first day of Christmas my true love made for me…an ornament wreath.

On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me…mugs.

We have two plum trees in our yard that are big fruit producers. This past summer we picked 60 pounds of plums! What on earth do you do with 60 pounds of plums as a family of four. We gave 30 pounds away to anyone that would take them. I pushed plums on neighbours, friends and co-workers for weeks.

And with the rest, we saved for the third day of Christmas when my true love made for me……

Plum wine. MMMM, wine.

Want to make wine?

I went to a local wine making shop with 30 lbs of pitted frozen plums in September. They did a little wine magic and 3 months later there was a huge jug of wine ready to bottle. I bottled it and labelled it and voila 30 bottles of wine ready for consumption.

If plum wine isn’t your thing, wine making shops have different wine kits that you can buy. It’s not difficult or expensive.

Christmas Crafts – Day 2

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At Halloween we took the kids to a local craft shop to make Halloween bowls. While we were there the kids saw posters for holiday mugs, and they decided that this “crafting thing” was going to be something that we did as a family. The question wasn’t can we make Christmas mugs, it was when are we going to make Christmas mugs. I can’t turn down a request to craft so I booked us into a family workshop on a Sunday afternoon much to the disappointment of my football loving husband.

My youngest got right into it, and attempted to make most of the mug on his own. He did however forget to sign his mug, which became an issue when it was time find it for glazing.  My oldest decided that he liked the frosty mug on the poster for another workshop better, so he made a snowman mug from the image on the poster. Huge bonus points to him for crafting out of the box without a demo.

On the first day of Christmas my true love made for me…an ornament wreath.

On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me…mugs!

What to make mugs yourself? Check out local crafting shops, studios or art workshops. All the fun without the mess at home.

Christmas Crafts – Day 1

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This blog began as a 12 days of Christmas Crafting blog, which has morphed over the years to incorporate whatever was going on in my life. I have kept up the 12 days of Christmas crafting for quite a few years, and am going to attempt it again.

Let’s kick it off with the first day of Christmas. On the first day of Christmas my true love made for me….

 

A sparkly wreath. Who doesn’t love a little sparkle and glitter? I got the ornaments, and silver ribbon at the end of the year last year in a grab bag. I think I paid $4.00, and got piles of craft junk, including all of the balls, and the ribbon. The only other material required was a metal coat hanger.

Want to make one?

  1. separate the ends of the hanger
  2. form the hanger into a circle with pliers – a shape resembling a circle is fine, it will be covered by balls
  3. fold one end of the hanger into a loop. This will stop the balls from falling off when you feed them on the wire. The loop is also used to connect the other end of the coat hanger when you are finished
  4. feed the balls on
  5. close the wreath by sticking the straight end of coat hanger through the loop and using pliers flatten the closure
  6. loop ribbon around and hang

 

 

Surprises in the Mail, Part 3

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Every once in a while a package from my mom arrives with a surprise inside for the kids. Once it was these little cuties, and another time it was Star Wars and Paw Patrol finger puppets. This past week it was a cute Christmas scene complete with its own box. I know that I can thank my dad for that contribution because it looks like one of his cigar boxes. My mom has some serious talents as she dreams up these little figures. I appreciate the up-cycled cigar box for the environmental aspect as well as the storage of this little set. My boys are very lucky to have such a talented grandma to make them toys.

Christmas Crafting – Day 12

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On the last day of Christmas Crafting my sister made for me…a Messy Bun Hat. Right now there is quite the knitting trend happening, with the creation of the messy bun hat. My sister sent me a message a few weeks ago hinting not so subtly that she might like me to make her a messy bun hat. So I did. There are a few patterns floating around on Ravelry (a knitting pattern site) but not many. When I can’t find what I want in the gauge or size I need I make it up. Here is my messy bun pattern if you wish to whip one up.

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Christmas Crafting – Day 11

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I have been on a knitting binge recently, which means lots of leftovers. I haven’t been feeding my family leftovers because of my knitting obsession, but rather I have a lot of leftover yarn. What do you do with the little scraps of leftover yarn? This is one project that uses leftover sock yarn. If you don’t have big feet then this one is for you. On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love made for me…Knit Ornaments.

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